


D'niTale

by UndyingUndyneTheUndying (FlyingUnhindered), Yeesha



Category: Myst Series, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Actually most of this is not canonically correct, Atrus and his family live at the Cleft, Atrus hasn't been to D'ni, Crossover, D'ni is not fallen, Gen, Most people don't have souls in their cupboards, Some people's ages are not canonically correct, The volcano in New Mexico is actually Mt. Ebott, Who knew that D'ni food was snail-based?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-02-26 15:40:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21610576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyingUnhindered/pseuds/UndyingUndyneTheUndying, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yeesha/pseuds/Yeesha
Summary: Atrus and his family plan an expedition to the legendary underground city of D'ni. But when Atrus and his wife are called away due to a problem on the age of Releeshahn, Yeesha and her brothers continue the long journey to D'ni. And what there is beyond their wildest expectations...
Comments: 14
Kudos: 5





	1. The expedition begins

**Author's Note:**

> This is a crossover between the Myst and Undertale fandoms. The story will not be canonically correct for either fandom, but a few things will remain the same. More chapters will be added later.
> 
> Note: If you are an Undertale fan who found this story and has not played Myst, you should check it out! While Undertale is a story-and-fighting based game, Myst is a story-and-puzzle based game. So if you're the kind of person who wanted more complicated puzzles in Undertale, or was disappointed that you couldn't actually solve the Tile Puzzle, you should try Myst!
> 
> Disclaimer: This product contains trademarks and/or copyrighted works of Cyan. All rights reserved by Cyan. This product is not official and is not endorsed by Cyan.

Yeesha giggled as she ran across the swaying bridge, pursued by Achenar, who was holding a handful of sand. 

“I’m gonna get you, Yeesha!” He ran faster and threw the sand in Yeesha’s direction. She ducked, but it was unnecessary. The wind was blowing towards Achenar, and the sand flew back into his face. He spluttered and made a face at Yeesha, who smirked and ran off. 

Twelve-year-old Sirrus was watching from the opening in the cleft wall. “Serves you right, Achenar! Now you’re going to have to wash your hair again before we go!” 

Achenar sighed and mumbled something before walking off in the direction Yeesha had gone. Since the show was over, Sirrus returned to what he had been doing, which was tinkering with a small mass of wires and metal. He continued working on his project until he felt a tap on the back.

“Time to go, Sirrus!” Catherine, Sirrus’ mom, was standing behind him, watching him with interest. She was carrying a bag in one hand.

“All right, Mother. Just a minute - let me finish this first.” Then Sirrus smirked. “Achenar and Yeesha were throwing sand again outside. I bet Achenar’s hair is all messy again!”

Catherine sighed. “Okay. I’ll go talk with them.” She left the room, and Sirrus began working once more, glad for the extra time. He, unlike the others, would have rather stayed home here in the Cleft than go on a trip to the D’ni cavern. But his parents had insisted that it would be a family expedition, and he had consented to come.

An hour later, after Yeesha had changed clothes, and Achenar had gotten his hair washed (again), the family was finally ready. Together, the five of them walked along the warm sand towards the old volcano that loomed over the cleft. They began climbing the mountain, but it was hard work, and Atrus, Catherine, and Sirrus had to stop to rest several times. 

Finally, they reached the cave in the side of the volcano. The three children had been here several times, but had never ventured into the dark pathway at the other side of the cave. This time, however, it was different. Atrus held up a firemarble lamp in front of him, and his children followed closely behind, with Catherine bringing up the rear.

They traveled for some time, until the children’s legs were tired. After walking for a few minutes more, they set up camp in a small rest station along the path, where they all slept.

In the morning (or what they assumed was morning, as there was no way to tell from the underground path), they set off again. The group travelled for three more days, each day being more tiring than the last. But the fact that they were almost there motivated everyone to keep walking.

Suddenly, a loud ringing noise startled them all. Atrus’s cell phone was ringing.

“Hello?” A pause. “Ah, yes, my friend. What-” Another pause. His expression became worried. “Oh dear. It it urgent?” He began pacing the pathway, apparently thinking hard.

After several minutes, Atrus put the phone down. “Catherine, my love…” He sighed. “It appears there is a problem in Releeshahn. My friend called to let me know that they need both of us to come at once to help.”

“But Atrus, dear, what about our children? What will they do? We’re almost to D’ni!”

“I don’t know - I don’t think they can come with us, at least not right now…”

"Aw, Mom, can’t we go to D’ni?” This was Achenar.

"Yeah! I really wanted to go exploring!” added Yeesha.

Catherine thought for a moment. “I suppose Yeesha is old enough to take care of herself. What if we let them continue on to D’ni, and we can meet them there when the problem on Releeshahn is taken care of?”

Atrus frowned, but before he could answer, Sirrus, who had been silent until now, spoke up. “Yeah, I’m old enough to take care of myself!” He puffed out his chest and tried to look tall.

The parents talked for a few minutes before reaching a conclusion. “You three can go to D’ni as long as you stay together and don’t do anything foolish. Neither I nor Atrus has been to D’ni, but if it has survived for ten thousand years, it surely must be safe.”

The children were ecstatic and eager to be off. Atrus gave Yeesha his second-best map of the tunnels leading to D’ni, and Catherine gave them some final instructions. “Children, remember that if you find any linking books, do not link away under any circumstances! And try to avoid anything that might be dangerous, okay?”

“Yes, Mom, we know.” said Sirrus, rolling his eyes. 

“Good. It shouldn’t take long to fix the problem on Releeshahn, but it will take us four days to get back to the surface, and five or more days to return once everything is taken care of. Make sure you stay somewhere where we can find you.”

They promised they would, and Atrus and Catherine bid Yeesha, Achenar, and Sirrus goodbye. Then, gathering up their belongings, the two of them departed back the way they had come, leaving them alone in the passage.

They had been walking for the better part of the day when Yeesha announced that they should be reaching the entrance to the great cavern of D’ni very soon. Sirrus and Achenar began running excitedly ahead of Yeesha, who had to hurry to keep up.

They rounded a bend in the passageway, when the firemarble lamp’s light suddenly dimmed. The next stretch of the path was enshrouded in fog, which became increasingly thick until they had to hold hands to keep together. 

Suddenly, Achenar, who had been holding Yeesha and Sirrus’ hands, gave a cry and jumped backward, almost knocking Yeesha over.

“Achenar! What was that for?”

“Sirrus! He pulled me! Hard!”

“Sirrus, don’t play around right now. We have to get out of this fog first.”

There was no reply

"Um, Yeesha?”

“Yeah?”

"Sirrus let go of me. I don’t know where he is!”

Yeesha inhaled sharply. “Sirrus! Sirrus, are you there? Where are you?” She let go of Achenar’s hand and began groping around in the fog, hoping to feel Sirrus. “Achenar, you look in front of you, and I’ll look back here. Don’t go more than a couple steps away, or we might get separated.” She nervously turned around to face the way they had come, but Sirrus was nowhere in sight, and he wasn’t near enough for her to touch. 

Then Achenar screamed. Yeesha jumped to her feet. “Achenar! What’s wrong? What happened?! Are you hurt?”

Achenar didn’t answer. Yeesha, frightened, took several steps forward. Achenar was not there. She took another step forward, blindly walking through the thick fog. Her foot came down, not on the solid floor of the D’ni pathway, but on thin air. Yeesha gasped as she lost her balance and fell to the ground - or where the ground should have been. Instead, there was nothing there, and Yeesha fell down, down, down...


	2. Waking Up

Chara woke. It would be an understatement to say that she was surprised to be alive again, after having been dead since- How long had she been dead? It felt like she had just woken from a deep sleep, nothing more. But that didn’t help her determine how many days - or years - it had been since her stupid plan had killed Ree.

Chara stood in time to see a red soul speeding at her. It crashed into her chest, but to her surprise, it didn’t shatter. Instead, her body absorbed it as if that was a natural thing to do with a random soul. Was it… _her_ soul? How would that even work?

A groan coming from the direction of the place where she had landed startled her. Had someone else fallen down? As she listened, she heard more noises. At first, they were indistinct, but her ears soon registered the sound as words. In fact, she could hear three voices, none of them ones she remembered.

Chara cautiously stepped toward the end of the large cavern called the Underground. When she turned the corner, she gave a small gasp. Even from here she could tell that the three figures checking the extent of their injuries were all humans. She kept walking until she stood in what could be called the entrance into the small cavern. She leaned against the wall, waiting to be noticed by the girl and two boys who had landed in a heap on golden flowers that hadn’t been there when Chara had fallen.

The boy with the more unruly hair noticed her first and pointed in her direction. “Yeesha, Sirrus, look!” he cried. The other children turned and looked at Chara. Well, they had seen her now. She may as well introduce herself already.

“Greetings,” she said, not certain if she should be happy or unhappy that other humans had fallen down into the place she had called her home for a long time. “I am Chara.”

The other girl stood, brushed herself off, and smiled in a friendly - if not slightly tentative - way. “Hi. I’m Yeesha. These are my brothers, Sirrus and Achenar,” she responded, gesturing to the two boys as she spoke their names. Achenar was the boy who had first seen Chara, and Sirrus was the other, and probably younger, brother, although he looked far more sophisticated than his older siblings. The girl called Yeesha was dressed in simple brown garments, and the brother she referred to as Achenar was wearing - clothes of some sort - but they were caked with dirt and mud to the point that Chara had no idea of their original color. But Sirrus? He was wearing a miniature suit, immaculately clean from head to toe. Or it would have been, before he had fallen down from the pathway above.

“Is everyone alright?” she asked, glancing up toward the top of the hole. “You all fell from a great height.”

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Achenar mumbled. Then he perked up. “Well, except for Sirrus, who got his special everyday suit dirty.” He stuck out his tongue at his brother, and Yeesha quickly stepped between them to prevent a fight. 

“Where are we?” she inquired of Chara. “I didn’t know this place existed. And how do we get out?”

Chara frowned at the last question. “I’m not sure if you _can_ leave. This is the Underground city of D’ni, home to the Kingdom of Monsters.

Sirrus perked up also. “Monsters?” he asked, eyes starting to shine with something that Chara didn’t like the look of.

“Yes. Monsters. There’s a whole kingdom of them, ruled by the strongest - and some of the nicest - monsters you’ll ever meet. They aren’t dumb animals that you can just ‘rule’ or announce dominion over and they will obey your every command. They aren’t stupid creatures, and they aren’t in any way defenseless.” She jerked her head in the direction she had come. “We may as well start walking while we talk. It will take a while to reach the Capital.” The three newcomers started following close behind her.

Chara was about to start explaining the history of monsters when a monster she had never seen before, a yellow flower, popped up out of the ground in front of them. It looked very familiar. It was exactly like the flowers on the Surface she loved… except for its too-innocent smiling face in the center of its head. A little finger of dread began to wrap around her heart.

“Howdy!” it cried. Chara narrowed her eyes. “I’m Flowey! Flowey the Flower!”

“That sounds like a name Ree or Dad would make up,” she muttered.

“Uh, hi, Flowey,” Yeesha answered slowly, cautious more because Chara was tense than because she was worried.

“Y’all seem pretty new to the Underground, am I right? Then you’ve gotta be _really_ confused! Let me show you how the Underground works!”

Chara shook her head fiercely. “No. We don’t need your help, I’m not confused, I know how the Underground works.” _Maybe even better than you,_ she thought.

Flowey seemed genuinely sad - almost. “Are you sure?”

“I’ve been here before,” she answered through gritted teeth. “Get out of our way.”

He seemed confused for a moment. “You…?” His eyes lit up with recognition. “Ohh, that’s right! I almost didn’t recognize you with other humans.” Chara flinched slightly.

“How do you know-?” she asked indignantly.

“There is one thing that’s changed since you were here, Chara. You know what that is?” He raised one of his eyebrows, neither of which had existed a moment before.

A ring of white bullets surrounded the children. Flowey’s new face exposed his true colors. “It’s KILL or be KILLED!” he announced.

Chara’s eyes grew wide. Monsters had never done this before! There was no way out! He was going to kill them!

“What do we do, Chara?”

“Don’t touch the bullets!” she yelled frantically. “They’ll hurt you!” The other children pressed against Chara, panicking as the inescapable ring of death began to close in. It was too high to jump over and too low - or too close - to duck under. Somebody screamed, but Chara was too focused on her imminent death to figure out who had screamed.

She could almost feel the pain of the bullets when they disappeared. Whoever had screamed stopped mid-scream, and even Flowey looked surprised. He looked around frantically in time to see a large fireball knock him into the air. When he landed, he disappeared into the earth.

A new, much more gentle voice spoke from the other end of the hall. “What a terrible creature, torturing-” 

She broke off when she saw Chara, and they both stared at each other in astonishment. Chara was the first to recover. “M-mom?” she asked.

Her voice seemed to jolt Toriel back to reality. “Chara!?” She spread her arms wide, and neither of them hesitated to rush into the other’s embrace. Toriel continued speaking, voice filled with wonder. “I do not know how you have come back, but as long as you are in the Ruins you may stay with me again.”

Chara buried her face into the soft, comforting, familiar fur, momentarily oblivious to everything except her beloved goat mom.

“I missed you,” she whispered, “Even though it doesn’t feel like it’s been very long since- since everything.”

The only response from Toriel was to pat Chara’s head. The three new children had recovered sufficiently from the shock of not being dead to stare at the strange embrace.

“Uh…” Achenar started, “What… Who…?”

Remembering that they were not the only two in the passageway, Toriel and Chara turned to face the others.

“This is my adoptive mom, Toriel,” Chara began, a little awkwardly.

Toriel laughed. “Forgive me for ignoring you. Come! I will guide you through the catacombs of the Ruins, and we can talk as we go.”


	3. The Ruins

Yeesha was enjoying herself. She was still a bit shaken from her unexpected fall into what must be a part of D’ni and from their encounter with the talking plant that had attacked them, but the appearance of the goat-like creature that had appeared she felt reassured. D’ni was very different from what she had imagined, but for the most part it seemed a pleasant place. She glanced over to Achenar and Sirrus, who had stopped by the side of the road to examine something. On closer examination, Yeesha saw that it was a large frog.

Toriel, seeing the boys’ curiosity at their new discovery, smiled. 

“That is a Froggit, native to the Ruins. You may talk to it, if you wish, although it may not understand you.”

“Why is it called the Ruins?” asked Yeesha.

“Well, a long time ago, when we were first imprisoned Underground, we fled as far from the barrier that traps us as we could,” Toriel explained patiently. “Ever since then, the capital has been moved to New Home.” Achenar opened his mouth to interrupt, but Yeesha shook her head, and he shut it again. “Most of the monsters moved there,” Toriel continued, “And if not there, then they settled somewhere between here and there where it was to their liking, whether Snowdin or Waterfall or Hotlands.”

As she had stopped speaking, Achenar was free to ask his question. “New Home? Then is there a Home?”

“Yeah,” Chara laughed. “The King is somewhat bad at naming things.”

“There’s a king?”

Yeesha answered before Toriel or Chara had a chance to reply. “Of course they do, Achenar! Don’t you remember Dad talking to us about the great kings of D’ni? This is D’ni, right?” The last part of this question was directed to Toriel. 

“Why, yes, my child. You are in the far side of the underground cavern of D’ni.”

“Well, we should probably go to wherever the main place is here. Mom and Dad had to go somewhere, so we came here by ourselves, but they’re gonna meet up with us later, and we need to be somewhere where they can find us.

Toriel and Chara exchanged worried looks.

“What is it?”

“Well…” said Chara. Her eyes scanned the three children, and she paused. “It’s not important right now.” 

Although puzzled, the boys rejoined the others, and the small group continued on along the path. Toriel and Chara led the way, followed closely by Sirrus and Achenar. Yeesha brought up the rear, but kept up with the rest of them.

Several minutes later, Toriel stepped through a small doorway to the side of the path, and reappeared with two bags. One was small and appeared to be fairly lightweight, while the second bag was much heavier.

“Children, would you all like to try some Spider Cider and Donuts?”

Achenar giggled and stepped forward. Toriel poured him a cup of cider from a large jug, and he accepted it eagerly.

“Spider Cider! I bet it’s made of mashed-up dead spiders!”

“Ugh, Achenar, don’t say things like that!” pleaded Yeesha.

“As a matter of fact, Achenar is correct.” said Toriel, who appeared puzzled at Yeesha’s interjection.

“Ewww! That’s so gross!” Achenar took a huge gulp of the liquid and grinned. “I love it!”

Yeesha groaned and shook her head. “I - don’t really want any cider, Miss Toriel.”

“That is perfectly all right, my child. Would you care to try a donut instead?”

“Are those made from...spiders, too?”

“They are!”

Although Yeesha declined the offer, Sirrus cautiously took the donut and nibbled on it hesitantly. His face brightened, and his eyes got big.

“Wow! I don’t feel hurt from when I fell down any more! And this tastes amazing!” 

Yeesha looked doubtful, but Sirrus seemed genuinely happy with his donut, and both Chara and Achenar were also eating donuts, so how bad could it be? 

Five minutes later, after every member of the party had eaten at least one donut (and some had eaten at least five), they began their journey once more. The children marveled at how many unique creatures there were underground. Yeesha had taken to asking Chara about the animals, and she had seemed happy to share her knowledge.

“What is that thing? It looks like a living carrot!”

“That is a Vegetoid. He is a carrot, but he is also useful to convince monsters to eat their vegetables. 

“Actually, Chara,” interjected Toriel, “we have had to stop having Vegatoids make appearances at the school on Vegetable Awareness day. Far too often, they come back half eaten!”

“Oh. I guess I...wasn’t around when they changed that.” said Chara.

Suddenly, Sirrus jumped back in horror as another monster burrowed out of the ground, just inches away from where his feet had been. It was very similar to the Vegetoid, but instead of leafy green hair, the top of it’s head was a mass of writhing green snakes.

Achenar’s eyes widened “What is THAT?!?” 

Chara stood dumbfounded. “I- I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like that before!”

Toriel approached the creature. “That is a Parsnik. It is a cousin to the Vegetoid, and can be much more dangerous than the others. Be careful!” She reached out and pulled Sirrus gently away from it and moved a safe distance away. “Perhaps we should continue walking.” advised Toriel, beckoning to the others. They followed her, and for a time the walk was uninterrupted. 

Then, as they made their way up the path, Sirrus stopped, his brow wrinkled in surprise. 

“What’s the matter?” asked Achenar, who seemed eager to keep going.

“There’s a tree in the middle of the path!”

“So?”

“We’re underground! How can trees grow down here?”

Chara shrugged. “The water down here has something in it that helps trees and other things to grow. Sometimes the water glows at night.”

“Glows? That’s strange. But it’s cool, too!” said Sirrus, satisfied with Chara’s answer.

They passed the tree, and Toriel hurried ahead of the rest of them. When they caught up to her a few seconds later, she was opening the door of a small, inviting cottage. Yellow light streamed out from the windows and doorway onto the path, outlining Toriel in warm light.

“Children from the surface, this is my house. You three are welcome to live here with me during your time in D’ni.”

Yeesha’s face lit up. “Really?” She hadn’t even thought about where they would stay for the night, and it was getting late. “That would be so fun!” Then, glancing over at Chara, “Would that be okay with you, Chara?” 

She shrugged. “Okay.”

“Well then, what are we waiting for? Come on!” urged Achenar. 

Yeesha looked at Sirrus, who nodded, and the three of them walked together into Toriel’s home.


	4. The Discovery

The house was pleasant, cozy, and tidy, if a little lonely. Toriel said she hadn’t had any visitors in a long time. Chara was the only one who noticed the shadow lurking at the edges of Toriel’s happy smile, and the only one who recognized that she was thinking of bad memories and things she didn’t want to discuss. So what had happened?

Toriel briskly led them to the first room, apologizing that she didn’t expect to have four visitors all needing a place to sleep and thus only had one guest bed. Chara almost asked about Asgore’s room before she saw the sign on it: “Room under renovations,” written neatly and clearly in Toriel’s tidy handwriting.

Inside, the room appeared a lot like the children’s bedroom in New Home, and Chara had to pointedly stare at nothing so she could shove the memories away.

“I want the bed,” Sirrus announced, sitting on it and doing his best to look proper and perhaps even regal amidst the dust cloud he had created by sitting on the long unused bed. He coughed and swatted the dust away from his suit, fussing over the clothes like they were spoiled puppies. Achenar laughed, and Yeesha couldn’t completely stop a smile from reaching her mouth.

Chara shrugged. “I don’t care. One of you can probably take the reading chair if you would like it. I will see if Mom has a sleeping bag or something. If nothing else I do believe she would have extra blankets and pillows.”

“Thanks, Chara,” Yeesha answered. Chara nodded and exited the room.

She was glad to be away from the memories. The room was too much like hers and Asriel’s, and that was one of the last things she wanted to think about.

“Hey, Mom?” she called. Toriel wasn’t in the dining room, so Chara, approached the kitchen. “Mom?”

Indeed, Toriel was in the kitchen, apparently having just begun making something. She looked over her shoulder at the girl as she entered.

“Yes, my child?”

“Do you have a sleeping bag or some blankets for the others to use tonight?”

Toriel moved toward the sink to wash her paws. “Yes, just a minute.”

Her paws washed, she turned off the faucet, and the clean paws glowed a subdued red. When the glow faded, they were perfectly dry. As she turned around to leave the kitchen, her eyes drifted up to the only cupboard with a lock; the one above the fridge. When her eyes registered that, yes, there really was a hole in the door, and no, she wasn’t imagining things, Toriel froze.

Chara followed her gaze, then looked back at her adoptive mother. “What?”

From somewhere in the folds of her robe, Toriel retrieved a key and fit it into the lock. Mechanically she turned it, her eyes still locked onto the hole and not the key.

Of all the things Chara had imagined might be behind the door, she wasn’t expecting what she saw. Two large jars filled up the entirety of the space. The one on the left looked like someone had smashed a hole in it from the inside. The hole lined up perfectly with the hole in the cupboard door. But the jar on the left was perfectly intact, its only contents a silvery-white upside-down heart floating of its own accord in the middle of the jar.

Toriel appeared frozen in shock. Chara had no idea what to think. A monster soul? Only boss monsters’ souls would last long enough to appear when the body dissipated, and there had only been three boss monsters when she had fallen down. Two were still alive, and the third- the third…

But if that was somehow _his_ soul, then the only logical idea she had of what might have been in the other jar was…

Chara pulled out her soul and looked at it, then back at the jar. Toriel still hadn’t moved.

“Mom? Mom?”

Eventually Toriel recovered enough to tear her eyes away from the cupboard to look at Chara.

“Yes, my-”

Again she froze, and again it was from shock, as well as confusion.

“Um…” Chara began, trying to explain her side of the situation, but still not understanding the situation fully herself. “I got- It came to me when I… woke up.”

The halted, uncertain words pulled Toriel out of shock, though not out of confusion. She studied Chara’s soul, watching it float like the one still in its jar. She breathed a sigh of relief. “Then… I think you will stay. I mean, if you have your soul, you are complete. Your body will not… fade away, nor will you suddenly die or disappear, not while your soul is within you.”

It wasn’t a perfect scientific clarification, especially since Toriel was not a scientist by vocation, but Chara understood it well enough.

After a moment, Toriel shook her head to clear it, her mind returning - not fully, but close enough - to her usual business mode. “Blankets,” she stated, changing the subject. “I have blankets somewhere. Let me go find them.”

The door opened. Yeesha looked up from the conversation she was having with her brothers. Chara stood in the doorway, and behind her Toriel, their arms laden with blankets and pillows.

“I do apologize for interrupting,” the goat-woman began, but Yeesha waved it away.

“It’s fine.” She looked at the colorful blankets, all solid colors except for the one with blue and purple stripes on it. “Oh, blankets, thanks!”

When they had gotten the blankets, Toriel had started to suggest the _other_ striped blankets, but Chara quickly shook her head. “N-not yet…” And Toriel understood, herself wrestling with similar memories, though the pain she felt was a different kind than the one Chara felt.

And now, now that the newcomers had been supplied with what they needed and would be busy for the next while, the question was asked. From the moment Toriel had seen Chara, she knew that it was inevitable. She had pushed it to the back of her mind, wanting it to be a happy reunion, but Chara would have to learn the answer sometime, if not from her, then from someone else, or even a textbook. So, when she was asked, Toriel decided there was no sense in putting it off.

“Where’s Asgore? You haven’t- I don’t think you’ve said anything about him yet, and- and…” _That’s not a good sign,_ Chara thought. She bit her lip, dreaming up a hundred ways that would explain why her adoptive father hadn’t been mentioned, and very few were not caused by her, even if only indirectly.

Toriel looked away, but the body language she gave indicated that this was a difficult subject to speak about.

“…Let us talk in the kitchen, my child,” came the answer. They were in the hallway, the question having been asked once they had exited the bedroom and the door had closed.

In the kitchen, Toriel still would not look at Chara. Maybe she did not want to look at her child, but the much more plausible - and yet much more confusing and even astonishing - reason was that Toriel did not want her own face to be seen.

Her paws rested on the counter, the fingers quickly curling into fists while their owner did her best to keep her voice level.

“Well…”


	5. The Exit

Tired from their journey, Yeesha, Achenar, and Sirrus slept late the next morning. When Yeesha finally woke, yawning and rubbing her eyes, she saw that Chara was not in the room. She must have slept elsewhere. 

A minute later, Yeesha heard quiet footsteps in the hallway. The door to the bedroom opened a crack, and Chara peeked in. 

“Oh, you’re awake! There’s breakfast in the kitchen whenever you guys are ready.”

“Thanks, Chara!” answered Yeesha brightly. She hadn’t eaten any food since the donut yesterday, and she was hungry. “Achenar and Sirrus are still asleep, but I’m ready!” 

She followed Chara to the dining room, where Toriel was sitting. 

“Good morning, my child. Did you sleep well?”

Yeesha nodded. “The others are still sleeping.” She glanced down at her watch and discovered it was almost lunchtime. “Sorry we slept so late!” 

Toriel looked puzzled. “Late? Why, it is only breakfast time! You aren’t late at all!”

She checked again. Sure enough, her watch said it was 11. “But- my watch says it’s almost time for lunch! Did the time change, or something?”

Toriel’s eyes lit up. “Oh, of course! I forgot to tell you that time in D’ni is different. We have a 30-hour day cycle here, whereas on the Surface you go by a 24-hour cycle, do you not?”

Yeesha nodded. “I guess that makes sense. Dad mentioned something about that once.”

At Toriel’s invitation, she sat down. The table was piled with food, most of which looked and smelled unfamiliar, yet delicious. Next to her plate was a cup full of some kind of juice. 

“...There’s no spiders in this, right?” she asked, tentatively. 

Chara laughed. “No, that’s just fruit juice. It comes from…” She reached over and looked through a bowl of fruit. “It comes from this fruit, here. It’s a star fruit.” 

“Oh, okay. There’s starfruit on the Surface, but it looks a bit different.” She drank some of the juice, and smiled. “It’s good!” She reached for a plate of rolls, which Chara informed her were called ‘chor bahk.’ Biting into it, she discovered it was filled with some sort of crunchy meat. It tasted… interesting. Probably just another strange D’ni food. But it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

“What’s in this roll? Is it meat?” 

Chara looked at the half-eaten roll in Yeesha’s hand and burst into laughter. “Do you like it?”

“It’s pretty good… But what is it?”

“Just an ordinary roll - filled with snails! That’s what chor bakh is!” She began laughing again at Yeesha’s expression.

Five minutes later, Yeesha was in the middle of sampling everything on the table, some things more than once (although she avoided the rolls), when Achenar walked into the room.

“Ooh, what's for breakfast? I’m so hungry!”

“There are many things for breakfast. Please, sit down!” said Toriel as she pulled out a chair for him. 

“Where’s Sirrus?” asked Yeesha. 

“I don’t know… He’s awake, so I’m not sure why he didn’t-” He broke off as Sirrus entered the room. Yeesha had made a decent attempt to fix her hair, while Achenar hadn’t done anything at all to his. But Sirrus’ hair was immaculate and combed. He wore a suit, which, although handmade by Catherine, still gave him the look of one who was important. This looked quite peculiar, as he was only twelve. He didn’t seem to notice.

“Hello, Toriel. This smells delicious!” 

“Greetings, Sirrus. Would you like some food?”

Sirrus did. He rolled his eyes at Achenar, who was stuffing food into his mouth as fast as he could, but heaped his own plate with nearly as much food as his brother had. For a while, they ate in silence, until Yeesha, who was finished, spoke up. 

“Thank you, Miss Toriel, for the food! And for letting us stay here last night, too!”

Toriel smiled, but it looked slightly strained. “You are welcome to stay here for as long as you live in D’ni, my child.”

Yeesha laughed. “Thanks, but we’re really only coming here for a short trip. And we should probably get going, anyway. Our parents had to go do something else, but they’ll be here in a few days, and we’re supposed to go somewhere where they’ll be able to find us.”

Chara and Toriel looked at each other. After a few seconds, Chara shook her head slightly. The movement was so small that Yeesha thought she might have imagined it. Then, Toriel cleared her throat. “Child, I am afraid I cannot allow you to leave. D’ni is far too dangerous for you three to be exploring on your own. Why don’t you stay here with me? I can even help you with your schoolwork while you are here! Does that sound good to you?” Her speech was hesitant, not knowing how they would respond, yet hurried.

Achenar looked up from his meal, seemingly shocked. “What do you mean, we can’t explore D’ni! We can handle danger, can‘t we, Sirrus? And Yeesha’ll make sure we don’t get into too much trouble!”

Yeesha looked from Achenar’s hopeful face to Toriel’s worried one. Chara’s face was unreadable. Then Sirrus spoke up.

“So… we have to stay here? We can’t go see the city?” He sounded disappointed, despite his earlier disinterest in the expedition. 

Toriel shook her head firmly. “No. I simply cannot allow you to leave, since you do not-”

“What if I go with them?” cut in Chara, surprising all of them. “I know my way around the Underground, and I can make sure they don’t get hurt.”

She narrowed her eyes. “A lot has changed since… you were here last. What if you get in danger as well?”

Chara shrugged. “I remember what D’ni is like. After all, to me it seems like I was just here. And I want to see what’s changed, as well.”

Toriel thought about it. After a moment, she sighed reluctantly, looking at the four hopeful faces around her. “....Very well. _If_ you accompany them, and stay with them at all times, I will allow you four to leave.”

Achenar threw his fists up in the air. “Yay! We get to explore D’ni!” He grinned widely, and so did the other children. Only Toriel remained uncertain as she cleared away the plates.

Sirrus, ever the neat one, was the first to be ready to leave. Bags in hand, he walked into the living room. Toriel was wiping the table.

“So how do we leave the Ruins, Miss Toriel?”

She walked over to where Sirrus was standing. “The exit is down those stairs, and at the end of the corridor. When you four are all ready, you may leave.”

“Okay.” Sirrus waited, and his patience was rewarded as the others joined him a moment later. “Are you guys ready?”

“Yeah!” answered Achenar excitedly. “Let’s go!”

And with that, they were off. They descended the stairs, Toriel in the lead, and walked down the long hallway. At the end, Toriel unlocked a heavy door, and held it open for them. 

“Goodbye, my children. Be sure to stay out of danger! Always stay on the path, and do not talk to any monsters that seem dangerous, all right?”

They nodded. Together, the four children stepped through the open doorway and exited the Ruins. The door closed behind them.

  
  



	6. Snowdin

Chara looked around. The forest was thicker than she remembered. She couldn’t even see the river, and she was certain she had been able to see it when she had been here last - which, admittedly, had been quite a while ago. She wanted to reminisce a little longer, but Yeesha caught her hand, pulling her towards Sirrus and Achenar, who had started to run.

“Wait up, Sirrus and Achenar!” Yeesha called. Reluctantly, the boys slowed down to let the girls catch up, though from the looks on their faces, it seemed like the boys would have rather run off alone.

It wasn’t long before a monster approached them. Chara groaned inwardly. Jerry. Of all the monsters, Jerry was the biggest jerk by far. At least he was pretty easy to deal with. The only real option was to ditch him. At least he didn’t seem to mind.

After a couple more minutes of walking, the children came up to a sentry station with a lamp in front of it. A skeleton glanced up as they approached. Chara didn’t remember seeing him before, but she got the impression that he had known they were coming for a while now.

“ **heya.** ”

“Hi,” Chara answered calmly. Her companions stared at the skeleton, but she wasn’t _that_ surprised to see one.

“ **what, never seen a skeleton before?** ” He held out his hand to her. “ **i’m sans. sans the skeleton.** ”

“Do not talk to any monsters that seem dangerous, all right?” Toriel had requested. But this skeleton seemed to be, if anything, the opposite of dangerous, so Chara figured it would be alright to shake his hand.

Sirrus and Achenar snickered at the sound that came from the whoopee cushion the skeleton had hidden in his hand. Yeesha wasn’t sure what to make of it, but Chara grinned good-naturedly.

“Nice to meet you, Sans.”

Without any warning, a taller, lankier skeleton ran up. The children spun around, and Sirrus’ eyes were immediately fixated on the monster’s clothes, especially the cape. “SANS!!!” the new skeleton exclaimed loudly. Yeesha got the impression that it was his normal voice. “YOU ARE SO LAZY!!! I BET YOU HAVEN’T EVEN FOUND A HUMAN YET!!!”

Sans gave a nonchalant “ **wrong.** ”

“WAIT, REALLY!? WOWIE!! YOU HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN DOING YOUR JOB FOR ONCE!?! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL TELL UNDYNE AT ONCE THAT YOU ARE NOT SLACKING OFF TODAY!! NYEH HEH HEH!!!” Papyrus spun on his heel and left in a blur.

The children turned back to Sans, confusion or surprise clearly evident on their faces, even Chara’s. Sirrus was the first to speak.

“Where did he get that cape? I want one! That’s a little longer and matches more colors than orange and red, of course.”

“Was that your brother?” Yeesha asked.

“ **yep.** ”

“Why was he asking if you had seen a human?”

“Maybe because they are not common here?” Chara suggested.

Sans looked her over. “ **nah, you guys are the only humans in the whole Underground. and he, uh, wants to capture one.** ”

“Capture one?” Chara’s voice came out shriller than she had intended. “Why?”

He shrugged. “ **wants to be in the Royal Guard.** ”

The girl stared. “…What?”

The skeleton leaned back and kicked his feet up onto the counter. “ **’s too much work for me, but he seems to get a kick outta making puzzles for them and trainin’ with Undyne. people have been wantin’ seven human souls for awhile now, though all Paps knows is that he’ll capture one and they’ll go to the Capital. but…** ” his eyes flicked to Chara again. “ **somethin’ tells me you guys won’t have to worry about what happens when you reach the Capital, no matter how you get there.** ” He ambled out from behind his station. “ **hey, wouldja do me a favor?** ”

Chara frowned. “What is it?”

“ **well, my brother’s been down lately. he's never seen a human before, and seeing you four might just make his day.** ”

Achenar was indignant. “But he was wanting to _capture_ us!”

Sans’ ever-present grin grew. “ **he's not dangerous, even if he tries to be. thanks a million, kids. i'll be up ahead.** ”

“We didn’t agree to-” Achenar began, but Sans was already gone, strolling down the path that the children had just come from.

“Wait,” Sirrus said, doing a double take, “He just- We came from- He’s going the wrong way!”

It probably made Papyrus’ month when he saw, not one, but four humans. To be honest, when he met them, their attention was probably more on Sans, who they were sure hadn’t passed them yet was clearly standing _in front_ of them, than Papyrus, who was proclaiming that refreshments would be provided if they dared to do his high jinks, low jinks, dangers, puzzles, capers, and japers. But Papyrus was too thrilled to notice. Yeesha absently wondered if japer was even a word.

Since there was nothing else to do, the four adventurers decided to continue through Snowdin. “The puzzles will be easy, anyway,” Sirrus scoffed, just out of earshot of Papyrus. “Dad’s Ages are full of them, and I bet he-” The boy jerked his head in Papyrus' direction “-couldn’t solve the easiest of his puzzles.”

Doggo received a few pats from everyone except Chara, who was afraid her scent might give her away. Doggo had been a Royal Guard for a very long time and might still remember her scent, though perhaps she would slip by unnoticed if she stayed in the middle of the group and surrounded herself with her companions’ scents.

Sirrus would be right; Papyrus’ puzzles were child’s play compared to the ones Atrus created. You didn’t have to observe nature closely or walk for ten minutes or pound your head against the wall because it _still_ wasn’t clicking and you had stood there for 15, 20 minutes already, staring at the same few objects until it felt like you could draw them in your sleep.

A few minutes later, in the field with the “Dog Marriage” sign, Achenar stooped and packed a handful of snow into a snowball, ignoring the coldness and wetness of the snow against his hand. His throw went a little high, only grazing Papyrus’ head, but it was enough to make him turn. The skeleton’s eyes lit up, and the fight was on. Within another minute, everyone was packing snowballs - everyone except Sans, that is - and hurling them at the nearest person they could find. Chara only worried for a moment that whoever was getting married would be unhappy that people were having a snowball fight in the field where they were, Chara assumed, going to be married. Any displeased dog could easily be pacified with a bunch of pats and the words “Good dog.”

After the fight, Papyrus took everyone to his house “TO GET WARMED AND DRIED AND SPAGHETTIED”, since the humans were cold and wet and hungry. Sans didn’t seem to be cold or wet or hungry, but his brother dragged him along anyway. Papyrus told the kids not to worry; they could do the rest of the puzzles later, once they were ready. (“We seriously have to do the rest of the puzzles? It looked like the rest were just switches to press,” Sirrus complained. “I told you they would be easy.”)

(Achenar assented his agreement through a mouthful of spaghetti, which he seemed to be enjoying, although nobody else found it appetizing.)

(Yeesha shrugged and looked at Chara. “Would he be okay if we didn’t do them?”)

(Chara shrugged also. “Maybe we can ask him later.”)

Sans watched the children picking at their food. Even Achenar was starting to wrinkle his nose at the insipid food. “hey, wanna come to grillby’s with me?” he ventured, as Papyrus was nowhere to be seen.

“Can we?” Yeesha asked. “Will Papyrus mind?”

“ **mmm, nah. he’ll probably be glad anyone ate any of it. i know it’s, uh, not very tasty, but he managed to make something edible, so that’s a first.** ”

Sirrus gave Sans a deadpan look. “This was the first time he made something edible!?”

“ **yup, unless he made something edible yesterday with Undyne. so, anyone wanna come with me?** ”

Chara stood up. “Yes, I would like to come.” The others followed suit.

“ **cool,** ” Sans said. He ambled over to the door and held out his hand to them. “ **i know a shortcut.** ”

The shortcut - and the fact that Grillby was made of fire - was disorienting for the children, but they were over their surprise by the time Grillby came around to their booth to order.

Sans passed them a couple menus. “ **whaddya want, kiddos? don’t worry about money; i’ll pay for it.** ”

Chara had already made her choice. “I would like a hamburger and fries and a glass of water, please.”

“Yeah, me too!” Yeesha chimed in.

“And me!” Achenar cried.

Sirrus quickly joined the consensus. “I want that too. But soda instead of water.”

Achenar quickly changed his mind. “I want soda instead of water too!”

“ **same for me, grillbs,** ” Sans added. He leaned against the cushion and directed his attention to the three siblings. “ **so, how are you three liking D’ni?** ”

“Is this place all snow?” Sirrus asked.

“No, we’re at the edge of Snowdin right now,” Chara answered without thinking. “Waterfall is after that, then Hotland, and then New Home.” She noticed Sans looking at her strangely. “Um, I saw it on a map.” The skeleton muttered something under his breath.

Sirrus rolled his eyes. “Seriously? They can’t think of better names than ‘Waterfall’ and ‘Hotland’ and ‘ _New Home_ ’!? Dad’s Ages have waaaay more creative titles! Edanna, Amateria, Voltaic, Narayan…”

“There was a book in the Ruins that said that the king was bad at names,” Yeesha said. “Oh, our food’s here!” She grinned at Grillby, who had just placed four plates and glasses onto the table. “Thank you, Mr. Grillby!”

Sans didn’t hesitate, reaching for the extra ketchup bottle Grillby had brought him. “ **thanks, grillbs.** ”

Grillby nodded and walked back to behind the counter. Sans unscrewed the ketchup bottle and dumped half of it onto his plate. Sirrus wrinkled his nose and grabbed a couple napkins to wipe the drops that had splattered onto him. “Is that a normal monster thing?”

“ **nope. ’s just a me thing.** ”

“Gross,” Achenar decided, though he was staring at the ketchup-covered plate with a sort of fascination.

Sans pulled a couple fries out of the red mess and popped them into his mouth. “ **dig in, kiddos.** ”


End file.
